10.25.2006

Spring loaded arms...to crush its victims!

I've got to hand it to my Mom: she reluctantly bought me this Alien figure for Christmas of '79. Mom, God bless you. I love you forever for this act of love. Never mind that you went through 9 months of carrying me in your belly or going through hours of labor to birth me or years and years of having to raise both me and my sister. The day I tore apart the gift wrapping to see the evil dark face of Alien staring back at me (on a beautiful Christmas morn no less), I knew that you truly loved me.

The second set of teeth extend out by pushing a lever in the back of the Alien's head. Cool.

The Kenner Alien 18" figure from 1979 is one peculiar toy. It has become an extremely rare collectible, with prices going as high as $500 for mint-in-the-box. Check out this page to read more about it. It was basically a marketing ploy that backfired -- who in their right minds at Kenner would think that kids (or their parents, for that matter) would buy a figure from an R-rated sci-fi horror film? A film that featured a baby alien bursting through the chest of John Hurt? Now, you gotta realize that this was WAY before the big rush of specialized movie merchandise that you can buy all the time at stores like Suncoast or online. This was directly aimed at kids. And it bombed big time. Thus, the high price it garners from collectors. And add the fact that the things were made quite poorly: there is a spike in the back that broke off all the time (I still have mine), the rubberband that gave the arms that "spring load action" would deteriorate in time (mine has), and the translucent head dome was often lost (still got mine). My Alien is in okay condition -- save for the rubberband and spike -- but with a good spring cleaning I'm sure he could look just like new.

My Alien figure's arms hang limp by his side. His days of crushing victims are long gone.

I remember the box packaging in particular, mostly for the shots of the Alien and its "spring loaded arms...to crush its victims!" You gotta love that. And check out that kid on the side there: you know he's now holed up in his mom's cellar, watching the ALIEN Quadriolgy non-stop and surrounded by the bones of his recent "purge." Oh yeah. He's a John Wayne Gacy just waiting to happen.Click to view the box in all its alien-y horror!

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Did you know? I did the animation for Mail Call's new show open. It's that show on The History Channel that has the incomparable R. Lee Ermey as its host. My pal Clay Croker was visiting Primal a while back when I was working on the open and said to me, "Hey man, I've got that R. Lee doll that you can get on his site! You wanna use it for reference?" Even though it doesn't really look like the guy, it did have some freaky elements to it, so I took some shots of the guy with dramatic lighting out of curiosity. Thus the posting of the pics here. I thought that they looked freaky enough for the Halloween-themed entertainment this week. Hope you enjoy.

They spent an unusual amount of detail on the teeth. Freaky teeth!

R. Lee wants you. And your soul.

"Prepare to die, you scum-sucking maggot!"

Awww, yeah.

Tomorrow: Ava shares her Dad's love of all things Halloween for Ava Thursday!

I got mine for christmas too! My mother absolutely hated it. Needless to say it was my all time favorite toy. I played with it until it was broken beyond any collectibility. I still have it though. Held together with black electrical tape. I definitely got my $500 worth out of it.

I wonder if you got Clay's R. Lee action figure and your Alien together, which one would win? Or would they just end up destroying one another? Or possibly invading Barbie's dream house and bludgeoning Ken to death? Hmmmmm.....Seriously, cool post. Nothing, but nothing says how old you are like the fact that your toys are out of the box and played with. No greedy collector kid you!

I remember going to Venture when I was 5 and picking out the Alien doll. I loved that thing. However, he had to sleep in the closet at night because the glowing head freaked me out too much. I think i lost the smoked plastic head cover right away.